Review

Review Summary: Velvet Acid Christ releases an album that is equal in quality to those which had built his career back in the late 90’s.

Well, after a couple of thorough listens to the album it really seems as though Hexfix93 has gone back to the style which brought him the most success. A rough thirteen years later he has found it within himself to release another sterling album. Maldire is more reminiscent of his music from Calling Ov The Dead and Fun With Knives than his attempted experimentations from The Art of Breaking Apart, or his other in-between releases. For what it was, The Art of Breaking Apart just couldn’t compete with his other works even though he attempted to add some new flavours to the music. He recorded a series of acoustic-centred tracks bundled with some other less-than-interesting songs and a remix of “Phucking Phreak[/i] (which was no-where near as good as the original). Luckily on Maldire he has returned to his peak signature style that brings me back as far into the past as his activity in 1998 and 1999.

The album features artwork that looks a lot like the ‘Dead Hand’ mini-boss from the Shadow Temple in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and comes with eleven brand new tracks. The music is Hexfix93’s unique form of dark-wave combined with EBM that retains its classic 90’s electronic music sound. It too features a myriad of sequenced voice-clips - even one from Mr. Nobody which appears on the track “Ominous Rattle” - that have been sampled to coincide with the dark atmosphere elicited from the synths and Hexfix93’s harsh vocals. While there doesn’t seem to be any underlying concept embedded in the overall music, the tone is as depressive as his past works and as the album’s appearance suggests, as it is equipped with ominous dance mixes and misanthropic lyricism.

The totality of Maldire was enjoyable from beginning to end, with the exception of the song “Inhale Blood” which, because of its repetition, seemed rather dull compared to the other tracks. Aside from that there was no part of any of the others which I found boring to the degree in which I would ever dissent from that statement. I can’t imagine Maldire ever becoming unenjoyable, unless of course one were to over-listen to it or divorce their interest from the genre. The album is likely to be one of those which can bridge listeners into becoming Velvet Acid Christ fans and re-enforce the long-standing interest of those who are already a fan. While it is not an essential of the genre, nor will it probably ever be an important part of it, Maldire is definitely one of the better dark electronic albums to have come out over the last few years and will represent an important part of Velvet Acid Christ’s growth for the future.

I'd compare Disease Factory's work to Front Line Assumbly's mid-career albums more than I would compare him to Skinny Puppy. I've just always seen a lot influence from Skinny Puppy in VAC albums, especially in the pro animal rights messages there sometimes are. I do agree though, I think those VAC albums played a big role in solidifying the popularity of that brand of electro-industrial, and I've always had a soft spot for industrial like this anyway.

Well, it is not my place to try and convince you to like Mr. Hexfix93's (largely solo) project. However it is clear that there are others (like myself) who speak of VAC with a little more than a moderate degree of enthusiasm. So if you ever feel like putting your hate aside and opening up - know that in doing so you may actually find the same reasons for enjoying his music as those found by us, as well as some reasons of your own.